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If I was stranded on an island, I would bring vegan chocolate truffles

Carly Dintaman found her way to us on the beautiful island of Gili Air and her timing was impeccable as we had just opened a café and needed professional advice. Not only did she give us advice, but she spent 2 weeks with us educating and training us on gluten free snack recipes. She may be remembered in future years as the woman who single handedly brought health and wisdom to our island paradise.

When I washed ashore on the tiny idyllic island of Gili Air, the only thing I was left wanting was some healthy dessert, so I did something about it.

The Art Cafe at H2O Yoga

I’m not a stranger to cooking in challenging environments (I’ve made meals for 40 in the middle of desert sandstorms at Burning Man). In fact, I find the challenges exciting, pushing me to get really creative. Gili Air presented new opportunities for me to have some cooking adventures.

The island is really limited in its resources. There are two main stores, and, other than that, supplies must be sourced from nearby Lombok or in Bali. However, I was adamant about using ingredients that could easily be purchased on the island.

Luckily I was able to find some key ingredients like dates, nuts, cocoa powder, and coconut oil to make raw, vegan, gluten free chocolate truffles and power balls, the perfect post-yoga snacks!

The challenge then became keeping these bad boys away from all of the live-in creatures–from the cat to the ants that would swarm the kitchen at the drop of some honey.

I also bought every gluten-free flour available on the island and finally came up with the perfect mix of rice, mung bean, corn, and tapioca flours to make gluten-free carrot cake (with raw cashew cream icing) and gluten-free banana bread (with raw, vegan chocolate ganache).

Gluten Free Carrot Cake

Before I departed Gili Air, I trained H2O Yoga’s staff to make these treats, so healthy indulgence lives on for future visitors who find themselves happily stranded on the island!